Matt Tourdot took the 189-pound bracket in dramatic fashion Saturday afternoon while Derek McDonald secured 2nd Place as both Spartan wrestlers qualified for the state tournament.
Down 3-1 with less than 30 seconds to go, Tourdot took down Middleton's Tyler Christensen to tie the match up at three apiece. Instead of riding Crossface's 2nd ranked wrestler in the state at that weight class, Tourdot let Christensen go and decided to go for the victory. With six seconds left that decision paid off and Tourdot won his first sectional title with a 5-4 victory. Christensen won the Bi-State Classic earlier this year and is one of the top 189-pounders in all of Wisconsin so the victory is a big one heading into the state tournament.
At 119 pounds, Derek McDonald lost to Tomah's Ian Duncan in the finals 9-2, but rebounded nicely to beat La Crosse Logan's Kyle McKenzie 10-2 in the wrestleback to make his second straight trip to the Kohl Center.
McDonald heads into Thursday's state tournament with a 30-11 record while Tourdot has a 38-2 record.
McDonald will face a tough match Thursday when he wrestles Appleton West's Shane McQuade who comes into the tournament with a 43-1 record. Action for the opening round starts at 3 p.m. Tourdot will wrestle Jake Dostalek of Waterford who comes in with a 31-5 record. Tourdot is on the same side of the bracket as top-ranked Jackson Heing (47-3) of Wausau West.
We hope to have some interviews with the coaches as well as McDonald and Tourdot up here later this week before they head to the state tournament. Check back here later this week for that.
Congrats to McDonald and Tourdot on qualifying for the state tournament and for the entire team on a great season!
